No Yeast Strawberries And Cream Cinnamon Rolls — The Best Use of Helen’s Jam Besides Toast

The strawberries are ripe. Ours, not the farm stand ones — Helen's strawberry patch along the east fence, which she started twenty years ago from runners her mother gave her, which makes the strawberries, in a very real sense, a family member. They come in all at once, the way strawberries do, and for two weeks in June the kitchen smells like something a poet would try to describe and fail.

I picked a flat on Monday morning before the sun got to them. There's a trick to it — you pinch the stem, not the berry, because the berry bruises if you grab it and a bruised strawberry is a ruined strawberry and I didn't spend twenty years keeping this patch alive to ruin anything at the last step. Helen taught me that. Helen teaches me most things related to the garden, and I pretend I already knew, and she pretends to believe me, and the marriage endures.

We made jam. Helen's recipe, which is her mother's recipe: berries, sugar, lemon juice, a touch of pectin. You crush the berries — not all the way, leave some chunks, because smooth jam is for people who don't trust fruit — and cook it down until it sheets off the spoon. That's the test. The sheet test. If it drips, it's not done. If it sheets, it's jam. There's no in between. Jam is binary.

We put up twelve jars. They'll last until next June if we're careful, and we won't be careful, because I put jam on everything — toast, pancakes, oatmeal, and once, in a moment of culinary experimentation that Helen has never forgiven, on a piece of cheddar cheese. I stand by it. Sweet and sharp. It works. She disagrees. We have been disagreeing about the cheese incident for six years.

The blog post this week was about the jam. Three people wrote in to say they'd tried making their own. Two succeeded. One had a pot of expensive fruit syrup, which is what happens when you don't trust the sheet test. I wrote back: trust the spoon. It knows more than you do.

Sarah's coming up next weekend with Ben and Tom. Lucy's not born yet — Sarah's due in May of next year — and I just realized I said that wrong. Sarah isn't expecting yet. Ben is nearly two and a half and apparently has learned to open the refrigerator, which Tom describes as "a security breach." I understand the concern. A two-year-old with refrigerator access is a force of nature.

Twelve jars of jam on the shelf. Summer is here. The living is, as the song says, easy. It is.

Twelve jars of jam on the shelf, Sarah and the boys coming next weekend, summer settling in like it means to stay — that called for something celebratory, something that felt like Saturday morning with nowhere to be. Cinnamon rolls made sense, but I wanted the jam involved, and I wasn’t going to wait for yeast. Here’s what I made.

No Yeast Strawberries & Cream Cinnamon Rolls

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 9 rolls

Ingredients

• Dough
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• Filling
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup strawberry jam (homemade with chunks is ideal)
• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced
• Cream Cheese Glaze
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 3—4 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Heat the oven. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 9-inch square or round baking pan with butter and set aside.
2. Mix the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Pour in the heavy cream, milk, and melted butter. Stir with a fork until a shaggy dough forms, then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 4—5 times until it just comes together. Do not overwork it.
3. Roll it out. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle roughly 12 by 9 inches and about 1/4 inch thick. Try to keep the edges reasonably even, but don’t fuss over it.
4. Add the filling. Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough, all the way to the edges. Stir together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture over the butter. Spread the strawberry jam in a thin, even layer on top, leaving a 1/2-inch border along the far long edge. Scatter the sliced fresh strawberries over the jam.
5. Roll and slice. Starting at the long edge nearest you, roll the dough up firmly into a log. Pinch the seam to seal. Using a sharp knife or unflavored dental floss, cut the log into 9 equal rolls, each about 1 1/2 inches wide.
6. Bake. Arrange the rolls cut-side up in the prepared pan, nestled close together. Bake for 23—26 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden and the centers are set. A toothpick inserted in the dough (not the jam) should come out clean.
7. Make the glaze. While the rolls bake, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt, then beat again. Add the heavy cream one tablespoon at a time until the glaze is thick but pourable.
8. Glaze and serve. Let the rolls cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then pour the cream cheese glaze generously over the top. Serve warm. These are best the day they’re made, but a 20-second microwave brings day-two rolls right back.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 390 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 54g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg